"We were wicked proud and delighted," said Sylvain Bruni, president of Boston Pride which organizes the annual June parade that includes as many as 22,000 marchers.

"Their decision which apparently was unanimous to allow us to march shows great progress ... really a historic moment where things are turning."

The invitation from the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council arrived Wednesday and ends nearly a decade of political drama when applications from any LGBT groups were rejected.

OUTVETS announced earlier in the week it also was invited to march. The vote for that group was 5-4.

"I think the message is that there are a lot of changes happening in South Boston," said Bruni, who could not predict how many of their members will actually march since they only began spreading the word 24 hours ago.

One change is that John Wacko Hurley, one of the past key organizers of the Southie parade and a leading opponent to including any gay organizations, isn't involved this year.

Hurley told WCVB he fell down a few months ago and hasn't been to any parade meetings in over six months.

"I don't care one way or the other," Hurley said when asked for a reaction to Boston Pride and OUTVETS marching this year. "I didn't vote. I don't criticize if I'm not involved."

With the change in policy, politicians who abandoned the parade decades ago will march this year.

Sen. Edward Markey, D-MA, said Friday he will be marching as well as Gov. Charlie Baker, Rep. Seth Moulton, D-MA, and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

Bruni said they also have invited Angela Menino to join them Sunday. Her husband, Tom Menino, the former mayor, had refused for over two decades to march in the parade because of its past policy.

Bruni said they will be allowed to display their banner identifying the group, a sticking point in past years that kept them out of the parade. But they will honor the rules that all marchers must follow.

"They are very specific in terms of not advertising your sexual orientation in a way that could change the political message of the parade," said Bruni. "And what we told them is just like we participate in the first night parade, our objective is to create a safe space for everyone."

"We are not creating another gay parade," said Bruni with a wide smile. "That is already a lot of work and that is in June."